Nine healthcare workers contract COVID-19 as Manitoba notes 'increased activity'

Dr. Ashok Gupta talks about how some COVID-19 patients are fighting for condition to be classified as chronic illness.

WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government released its latest COVID-19 surveillance data Monday morning.

The data monitors the "intensity and geographic spread" of COVID-19 as well as the characteristics of people who contract COVID-19, the contacts, and the transmission in populations.

The latest data is from the week of September 13-19 and reports increased activity of the novel coronavirus.

In the seven day period, there were 156 COVID-19 cases reported in the province, an increase from 108 in the previous week. The data shows that 78 per cent of cases were in the Winnipeg region.

Over the week, lab testing increased to an average of 1,584 people tested a day, up 284 people a day from the previous week.

The province also saw its positivity rate of lab tests jump from 1.4 per cent to 2 per cent.

The data also shows a slow start to flu season. The surveillance data said the number of reported respiratory outbreaks remains low for this time of year.

SOURCES OF TRANSMISSION

A summary of the surveillance data noted that about 60 per cent of the cases this week were close contacts to known cases and only one case was considered travel related.

Unknown sources of transmission, known as community spread, account for 17.8 per cent of cases in the province.

Close contacts to cases are mainly being exposed through people in their households. The data states 11.2 per cent of household contacts are contracting COVID-19

HEALTHCARE WORKERS

Nine more Manitoba healthcare workers tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number since the beginning of the pandemic to 97 workers.

The majority of the 97 workers, 62.8 per cent of them, contracted the disease through close contact with a known case. About a quarter of the workers acquired the virus from an unknown source.

Thirty-three of the workers are healthcare aides, 27 are nurses, nine are physicians or physicians in training, seven are social/support workers, five are medical clerks, three are pharmacists, and 13 fall into a combined category.